PRIME 2007: 天神祭 [Tenjin Matsuri]

On Wednesday, we went to the Tenjin Festival. Since 天神 is the god of scholarship, this festival invites professors and other scholars' participation by letting them ride in special barges floating along the riverbed. I heard from 伊達先生 (Date-sensei) that 下條先生 (Shimojo-sensei) might be riding in one of them this year.

So, we left the lab around 5pm to catch the bus to the subway to the JR loop line (around downtown Osaka) to the festival. It sounds complicated, but all in all, it took only a mere 1.5 hours to get to the festival (with the festival crowd, schoolchildren trying to get home, and the 99.9% of the Japanese population that commutes via public transportation).

Here's a photo of us at the JR loop line. Now, can anyone spot David-san in the crowd?

Still at the JR loop line...

As Japanese people tend to hide their relationships, it's very hard to find pictures of them with their significant others. So, please enjoy this picture of 市川さん (Ichikawa-san) and his girlfriend:

The other lab folks that went with us. I'm so glad they decided to take time out of their day to come! Ishi-san hasn't been to a festival for 10 years! (since high school... wow). However, I cannot blame him, beacuse he has a long commute.
From left to right: 石さん、川上さん、武田さん (Ishi-san, Kawakami-san, Takeda-san):

One of the many floats parading along the river:

Me and Ava-san:

Then it got dark, but the floats on the river were prettier then!

Me and Ava-san missed the Osaka University float where professors like Shimojo-sensei get to ride on, because we were buying dinner for everyone. Ah, shucks.

One of my many shots of fireworks. This one just looks like the tree was on fire. As Ava-san sadly pointed out, my camera was outdone by some of those super mini HI-TECH phones.